Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

When looking back at my preliminary task, I feel as though I have improved massively.

Time management

I am extremely happy with my time management, I have improved a lot since doing the preliminary task. When I did the preliminary task at the start of the year my time management wasn't good, I fell behind on a lot of it, this is shown by my final front cover. 

This is my preliminary task magazine, front cover.

When doing my preliminary task my poor time management is shown, this is because the colours in my photography clash with the colour of my writing. If I had better time management then I could have retaken the photograph so that the colours didn't clash. 

After doing my preliminary task I then realized that I need to work on my time management because I never realized how important it is. I have been on time with all my work when doing the music magazine, I have known when the deadlines have been and made them. I was unable to make the deadline for the photography, this was due to my first artist that I had wanted was unable to do the photography twice so I then had to organize a different artist and change my planning. I was able to fix the problem in time though and was able to carry on and get everything done in time.

 

Changing software

When I did the preliminary task I used powerpoint to put the magazine front cover together, when I used it I felt as though it wasn't the best software to use, this is because the photograph was unable to fit the whole page. When using AdobeDesign I found that it was a lot easier to use when creating my magazine pages. I was able to do more than I could with PowerPoint. AdobeDesign has a lot more tools to create a more professional look. I learnt a lot about how important different software is when doing my preliminary task.

Other things I learnt

I learnt a lot about researching when doing my preliminary task, i found that it is more important than I thought. I helped me create the professional look I got with my front cover. From researching I also found a lot about feature articles. I thought it was all about writing but after researching I found that it is about getting a balance between the photograph and text. If there is too much text then a majority of people won't want to read the article.

I also found out from doing my preliminary that the colours in my photography is important. If i had too much colour; a bit like my preliminary task then it makes it difficult to add text over the photograph. I used a black and white photograph for my front cover, this is because when doing my preliminary task I found it hard to find colours that are viable over my photograph. I think that my preliminary task didn't look professional because of the photography and the colours in it.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout this whole project i have been using new software that I had no idea how to use it, this includes Blogger and Adobe InDesign. I also used powerpoint.

Blogger

I started using blogger for the first time when we did the preliminary task. I had never used it before that, after doing the preliminary task I felt really confident with the software. After doing this music magazine task I feel even more confident with it, I feel as though it has helped a lot posting my work on here, this is because I am able to save it before I post it, this allows me to start work and save it instead of posting it. 

Adobe InDesign

Before creating my music magazine I had never used Adobe InDesign, I found it very confusing when I first went on it, after a few times using it I slowly got the hang of it. I can now use the software confidently, I'm not able to use some tools on the software, but I was able to create my music magazine confidently.

Powerpoint

I used powerpoint for the research on music magazines, this is because I find powerpoint is a lot easier to use for images, it allows you to apply arrows, add text boxes (this is very useful for researching) and apply the text wherever on the page. I am extremely confident when using powerpoint, I am able to use a majority of the tools on the software. 

Who would be the audience for your media product? and How did you attract/address your audience?

My target audience to start of with was 15-24, I wanted the magazine to attract both teenagers and young adults.

I wanted it to look similar to this Vibe magazine, this is because I feel as though it attracts the same target audience.

When I finished my magazine I felt as though I had the same target audience as I had wanted.

My artists I felt represented the right look for teenagers and young adults. I used a mix between male and female artists, this was to make sure I got a mixed audience of females and males.

How my front cover appeals to my audience..

My front cover appeals to my audience by the colour scheme, I used purple, black and white. Using these colours it adds mystery, I like mystery because as being apart of my target audience I would be excited to find out what is inside and want to find out more about the artist on the front cover. I edited the photograph to be black and white, this is because I think it looks more sophisticated and professional. When putting my front cover together I applied other artist names that are in my front cover but then thought it looked better with less writing and only writing about the front cover artist.

This is my front cover when I was applying text about other artists and then realized I didn't like it and took all the text out of it. 

This is my front cover finished. I think it appeals well to my target audience.

How my contents page appeals to my audience..

I feel as though my contents page appeals to my audience because it has photographs of the artists, as being apart of the target audience I would prefer to have photographs rather than loads of texts. I have a balance of texts to photographs. My text is introducing the artists on which pages, this will attract my target audience because they won't want loads of texts but the text that is on the contents page will make my audience want to read it.

How my feature article appeals to my audience..

My feature article appeals to my target audience because it has a unisex colour, this means that both females and males will want to read it rather than just females or just males. I also had my photography of Guy looking out the window. This will attract my target audience because the artist looks like he is thinking and being apart of the target audience I would want to know whats going on and who he is. I also think that there isn't too much text on the page, this is because of the photograph and there is a good ratio between the photograph and text.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Time Inc.

Before 2014 Time Inc. was known as IPC. 

Time Inc. has been running since 1963 and was formed with the UK's 3 leading magazine publishers, they came together to create this business. 

• This is the change between the magazines that have been published by Time Inc. throughout the years.

Time Inc. UK is Britain's leading publisher of print and digital magazine content.

They have more than 60 iconic brands. This includes: 

Bauer

Bauer media publish a variety of magazines.

Conclusion

If either of these companies published my magazine it would be Bauer Media, this is because they focus on a varied magazines with a mixed audience, unlike Time Inc. Bauer also publishes magazines that are similar to my magazine that I created.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine artist represents the teenage social group. I also have put a competition to with concert tickets, this would attract teenagers rather than adults. 

 I am happy with the social group that is represented in my magazine, this is because my target audience was teenagers/young adults; with the age range of 15-24.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

On my contents page I took the feature of having the little “Q” at the bottom of the page along with the page number on my contents page.

I also looked closely at this Q magazine cover, I like the simple design, this is why I made my front cover very simple. I think this looks more sophisticated and better suited for my choice of genre of music.

My Final Magazine